Adam Anderson
Adam Anderson
Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach
University of Notre Dame ’01 – B.A.
University of Notre Dame ’03 – M.Ed.
adanders@dwu.edu
605-995-2179
Consistent leadership and solid recruiting have been a winning combination for Adam Anderson during his tenure as the head men’s and women’s golf coach at Dakota Wesleyan University. Anderson is entering his eighth season as the head of the Tigers’ golf programs in 2012-13, and both teams are annually among the top of the standings in the Great Plains Athletic Conference as well as rated in the NAIA Top 25.
The 2011-12 season was another solid year for the Tiger golf teams. The DWU women continued their dominance in the GPAC with a conference championship – their sixth under Anderson and their ninth in the past 10 years – and earned yet another trip to the NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships. It was the DWU women’s seventh trip to nationals in as many seasons under Anderson and ninth in a row overall. Anderson received his fifth GPAC Women’s Golf Coach-of-the-Year honor, and DWU also claimed bragging rights to the GPAC Women’s Golfer-of-the-Year as senior Dani Bellet won the prestigious title again.
Bellet wrapped up her four-year career with her fourth straight golfer-of-the-year title. She is the first athlete in any sport in both DWU and GPAC history to win four straight player-of-the-year titles. She tied for 10th at the national meet and earned her third straight All-American honor, becoming one of just a handful of Tiger athletes to be a three-time All-American. She won 10 of the 15 tournaments DWU entered in 2011-12 and finished in the top 10 in each of the other five. She was named GPAC golfer of the week six times and the NAIA National Golfer-of-the-Week once. She also earned All-GPAC First Team honors for the fourth straight year, and was an NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
Sophomores Chelsea Burback and Kamie Roesler and freshman Jenna Winckler also earned All-GPAC First Team honors after finishing in the top 15 in the individual conference standings. This year marked the second conference honor for Roesler and first for Burback and Winckler.
The DWU men’s team was young this past season, but showed flashes of greatness and potential throughout the season. The Tigers finished sixth in the conference standings and failed to qualify for the national championships, but recorded five top-five finishes. Two Dakota Wesleyan men’s golfers earned All-GPAC honors, and the Tigers lost just two golfers from the 2011-12 roster to graduation and return all of their top five from last season’s roster. Junior Travis Johnson earned All-GPAC First Team honors for the Tigers and sophomore Josh Korn earned honorable mention accolades.
In his seven seasons at DWU, Anderson has won a total of seven GPAC titles, three Region III titles and has made nine trips to the NAIA National Championships. Additionally, he has been honored with six GPAC Coach-of-the-Year awards along with three NAIA Region III Coach-of-the-Year honors.
On the women’s side, Anderson has coached two NAIA All-American Honorable Mention golfers and two First Team All-American golfers, six GPAC Players-of-the-Year and three NAIA Region III Golfers-of-the-Year. On the men’s side, Anderson has coached two PING/NAIA All-North Region golfers. Overall, Anderson has had 44 All-Conference performers, 49 GPAC Players-of-the-Week and has had 16 NAIA Scholar-Athletes.
Coach Anderson believes Dakota Wesleyan offers a great opportunity for competitive high school golfers who wish to take their game to the next level. Besides having access to their beautiful home course, Wild Oak, the Tigers also occasionally play at Lakeview. The Tigers’ challenging schedule allows the men’s and women’s teams to compete in both fall and spring golf seasons with some of the top teams in the Midwest and beyond. Anderson uses a video camera and modern swing analysis software to help aid golfers with any necessary swing changes between seasons. Each team routinely plays six or seven events each season or up to 14 per year. Furthermore, to fine-tune their skills before the spring tournaments begin, Anderson offers any member of his team an opportunity to attend a spring break golf trip to a southern location in the United States.
A four-year member of the Fighting Irish golf team at Notre Dame, Anderson made the traveling team his final two years. His best season came during his junior year when he was named to the NCAA Academic All-America Team and the Big East All-Conference Team in 1999-2000.
In the summers following his junior and senior years, Anderson stayed on campus to help run the Nike Junior Golf Programs, working as a camp counselor and an on-course instructor.
Anderson arrived at DWU after spending three years teaching math and science while coaching various sports teams in Oklahoma City and Kansas City. During his time in Kansas City, he worked as an assistant golf professional at Staley Farms Golf Club.
Originally from Plankinton, S.D., Anderson won the Mitchell City Golf Tournament in 1999 and 2006. He is married and lives in Mitchell with his wife, Heather.
For more information on becoming a Tiger golfer, fill out an online golf questionnaire and Coach Anderson will contact you.
Tyler Evenson
Tyler Evenson
Graduate Assistant Coach
Dakota Wesleyan University ’11 – B.S.
Tyler Evenson begins his first season as a graduate assistant coach for the Dakota Wesleyan University men’s and women’s golf teams in 2012-13.
Evenson returns to Dakota Wesleyan after a four-year career with the Tiger men’s golf team from 2007-2011. He was a three-time All-Great Plains Athletic Conference golfer, earning the honor as a freshman, junior and senior. Evenson picked up three individual victories in his career to go along with nine top-10 finishes as a junior and senior.
Evenson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in multimedia from Dakota Wesleyan in 2011, and returns to DWU to pursue a master’s degree in educational policy and administration.
The Lead, S.D., native recently married former DWU All-American golfer Dani Bellet and the couple reside in Mitchell.
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